January 27th
by lotusunset
Summary: TOPHER/BENNETT, mild spoilers for 2x11 Its Topher's birthday. Bennett wanted to wish him a happy one so she makes a surprise visit to L.A. Topher thinks this might just be the best birthday ever.


A/N: Mild Spoilers for 2x11. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Just a fluffy fic. Pretend they've saved the world. Or whatever else floats your boat? This ship just desperately needs some fluff right now! Topher/Bennett.

* * *

"It's January 27th," Dominic remarked out of the blue. Adelle looked up at him, smirking. She swished her drink around in the glass.

"I know," She replied.

"Who are you going to let him play with this year? Kilo?" Dominic inquired.

"I don't think that will be necessary this year, Mr. Dominic," Adelle remarked, taking a sip of her drink.

"Topher actually has friends now?" Dominic snorted with a sardonic smile.

"I suppose you could say that," Adelle said, "He doesn't know she's coming, though. She wanted to surprise him."

"Who?"

"Bennett Halverson. D.C.'s chief programmer. He's absolutely smitten with her. And I'm certain the feeling is quite mutual," She explained.

"Ah. When will she be here?"

"Any moment now, I'd expect," Adelle smiled.

---

Bennett wasn't nervous, no, not at all. It was just Topher. Just Topher. She just didn't like L.A. very much. Too noisy. Smoggy. Out of her comfort zone. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and fidgeted with her sling. She fussed with her hair. Messed with her clothes. Nervous habit. She just wanted to get from the airport to the house as quickly as possible. She was excited to see Topher, of course. She could hardly wait. Just thinking about him made her smile.

When the limo pulled up to the building, Bennett shot out of it as quickly as she could. Dominic was outside the building, waiting for her. He knew it must have been Bennett because of the arm. You didn't see a pretty girl with a dead arm in a sling everyday. As the chauffeur got out of the limo and opened up the trunk and emptied it of Bennett's belongings, Dominic approached her.

"You must be Bennett Halverson," He said in a stoic tone.

"Mhmm, yes. You must be Mr. Dominic. Topher mentioned….things about you," She smiled.

"That would be me," He replied, "Do you need help carrying your bags?" He offered. Not because he particularly wanted to carry her things but because he knew Adelle would chew him out if he wasn't polite to the one-armed girl.

"No, no. I can handle it," Bennett assured him, slinging both bags over her shoulder effortlessly. Dominic shrugged as he lead her inside. Neither said anything else until they reached Adelle's office. It had been quite the awkward elevator ride. The door slid open and both exited. Adelle looked up and smiled.

"Ah, Ms. Halverson. Its nice to see you again. I hope your flight was alright," Adelle asked.

"It was fine, thank you," Bennett replied timidly, "He still doesn't know, right?" She bit her lip and looked at the other woman nervously.

"Of course not, I'm very good at keeping secrets," Adelle grinned.

"Perfect," Bennett said, "May I go see him?"

"That's why you're here, is it not?" Adelle said, "Go ahead. You know the way down. Make yourself at home."

In almost the blink of an eye, Bennett was in the elevator again and heading downstairs with a smile from ear to ear plastered on her face. In the slightly metallic texture of the elevator door, Bennett could see her reflection. She fussed with her hair again, fidgeted with her clothes. Couldn't this elevator go any faster? Of course, there were a lot of floors between Adelle's office and the dollhouse but after a five hour flight from D.C. and then the excruciating ride from the airport, Bennett was feeling extremely impatient. She felt a little uncertain about seeing Topher again; it had been a few months since she had last seen him. Not that they hadn't kept in contact, because they had but she was still nervous. What if he didn't want her there? What if he didn't feel the same away anymore?

She took a deep breath and sighed. This was stupid. She was worrying for nothing. Right?

As the doors opened, Bennett stepped out with her things. She looked around. Not much had changed. Dolls roaming freely around the place, which made her a little uncomfortable, honestly. She could see the door to Topher's lab a few feet in front of her and she froze a little. Should she knock? Should she try to silently open the door and surprise him? Bennett could have sworn she had already planned all of this out already but somehow it had all escaped her normally brilliant mind.

"Focus, Bennett, focus, focus, focus," She chanted to herself, frustrated.

That was it. She was going to put her hand on that doorknob and open it. She was going to go in there, surprise him and wish him a happy birthday. She was going to (try to) give him a hug, maybe a kiss on the cheek if she was feeling particularly daring.

After a few more seconds of mental preparation, she actually did put her hand on the doorknob and twist it open as quietly as she possibly could. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, also as quiet as she could. Carefully, she dropped her things on the floor agains the wall. That would be a good place for them, for now.

She saw him sitting in front of all his monitors, tinkering with something. Her heart sped up a little and she could feel a burning blush creeping into her cheeks. This was ridiculous, but obviously, he hadn't noticed her entrance. Which was good. He was too involved with whatever it was he was doing. Slowly, Bennett crept up to him. He still didn't notice her. He didn't notice her even when she was standing right behind him. Bennett leaned over him a little to see what he was doing. From the looks of it, just messing with an imprint. She grabbed her glasses and pushed them on her face so she could see it better. She studied the imprint for a second. She was surprised he couldn't hear the furiously loud beating of her heart.

The imprint he was working on was just a typical romance engagement. Nothing too exciting, yet he was engrossed in his work anyway.

"You should give her ninja skills," Bennett said suddenly, her voice flat, "It'd make it a more interesting encounter."

Topher froze. That suspiciously sounded a lot like Bennett. He slowly turned around to see if he was just hearing things or if by some weird twist of events, Bennett was actually standing behind him.

She was.

"Bennett!" He exclaimed, shooting up out of his chair like lightning, "What are you doing here? I mean, its awesome that you're here but-"

"Its the 27th," Bennett interrupted him, "I looked it up and Ms. Dewitt confirmed that it was the day of your birth- your birthday…So I wanted to come wish you a happy birthday," Bennett explained, talking a little too fast, "Oh!" She exclaimed, running back to the pile of her things. She dug through one of the bags and pulled out a card. She walked back over to Topher and smiled, handing him the card, "I had no idea what to get you so I just got you the card. I hope that's alright, I mean, at first I was going to get you a pet pig but then I didn't think Ms. Dewitt would like that very much…"

Topher looked her up and down, speechless. He set the card down on the glass desk. He really didn't care about that, he only cared about the absolutely beautiful girl who was standing in front of him. He gave her a bright smile before he pulled her into a tight hug. She giggled a little, wrapping her arm around him as best she could manage.

"This is quite possibly the best birthday present ever," Topher told her.

"But you didn't even open the card," Bennett said.

"I didn't mean the card, I meant you being here! For my birthday! You flew across the country for my birthday!" Topher pulled away a little so he could just look at her. He'd never get sick of that. Bennett looked at the floor, biting her lip.

"Well, I…I missed you," Bennett admitted timidly. Topher stared at her for a few seconds before he leaned down and kissed her on the lips. There really weren't any words to describe what was going on in his head. At least, there weren't any words that she'd actually understand. Bennett stood on her tip-toes and pulled him a little closer.

That was the exact moment that Ivy decided to walk in. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at them.

"Oh…Bennett's here," She commented. Awkwardly, Bennett broke the kiss and leaned to the side to see Ivy.

"Hello Ivy," She said softly, "Its nice to see you again." Ivy sighed.

"I suppose this means you need me to finish that imprint for India?" Ivy asked, slightly irritated. Topher's preoccupation with Bennett was so annoying.

"Sure," He said, not even looking at Ivy, his eyes were still focused on Bennett, "Make sure you give her ninja skills. Its very important…"

---

"You have no idea how nice it is to have someone to play with," Topher sighed dreamily as he moved his chess piece. He really wasn't paying attention to the game. Which was probably why he was currently losing.

"Checkmate," Bennett said, "I'm sorry," She said awkwardly, reaching over to the bowl of cheetos they had sitting on the floor beside them.

"Man! That's like, the third time! I'm so not used to losing! Of course, I'm used to playing against myself so…"

"Play again?" She asked, crunching on the cheesy snack.

"You know it!" Topher said, setting his white pieces back on the board and pushing the black ones back over by Bennett, "I beat you the first time, I'll beat you again."

"I only let you win that time!" Bennett protested.

That particular game of chess ended up lasting the bowl of cheetos, a bowl of wasabi peas and a two-liter of diet coke. Which was about an hour and a half. It ended in a stalemate.

"Again?" Topher asked. Bennett shook her head.

"There's plenty of…other things we could do, right?" She asked.

"Are you afraid I'll beat you if we play again?" Topher grinned. Bennett quickly set her pieces back on her side of the board. Topher followed, his smile turning into a smirk.

"One more time," She said, determined.

He beat her that time.

After Topher had picked up the chess set and moved their dirty dishes somewhere else, he leaned down and offered his hand to Bennett to help her up.

"Come on, let's figure out something else to do," Topher said. She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.

Something else ended up being jumping on trampolines. Bennett had objected at first but she eventually gave in. The way his eyes just sparkled whenever he looked at her instantly made her feel all warm and fuzzy. She held onto his hand tightly as they bounced, it helped with her balance. They laughed like little kids on a playground.

Ivy stopped and looked over the railing to see them bouncing. She rolled her eyes.

"Do you plan on doing anything productive today, Topher?" She asked.

"The amazing Topher Brink isn't here right now, please leave a message after the beep, thank you!" He said. Bennett provided the long beep at the end. Topher snickered and Bennett giggled. Ivy just walked away to continue working on what Topher was supposed to be doing.

Down below, Adelle and Dominic were walking through the house. Dominic stopped, the jumping programmers in the window catching his eye.

"What are they doing?"

"Making Ivy's life miserable, from the looks of it," Adelle replied.

Once bouncing on trampolines got boring, Topher and Bennett actually sat down to do a little work. If you wanted to call it that. They mostly sat down and just tweaked imprints. Which means they went through and added absolutely pointless skills or strange mannerisms that only they'd find humor in. Not big things that would ruin the engagement, just little things that amused them. One girl was going to think she was a pyro-kinetic. Another who was secretly an expert juggler who had a strange affinity for water fowl. They added contortionist to quite a few romantic engagements just for the hell of it.

When they were done having fun with the imprints, the two super geniuses found themselves sitting on the couch, cuddled up together. They had been watching a movie but about halfway through they found that boring. Each other's lips became much more interesting. Bennett had been resting her head on his shoulder when he suddenly decided this would be a great opportunity for a snogging session. It started out slow, very soft and very sweet. And not nearly as awkward as their first kiss. Not to mention Topher found it a much more pleasant experience when it wasn't painful. The kissing soon grew more heated, though. Topher wrapped one arm around her waist and his opposite hand found its way into her dark hair. Bennett's arm was snaked around his neck as she practically pulled herself into his lap. Ivy ignored them as she walked back and forth through the lab. The handlers that passed through gave the pair strange looks they were oblivious to. The dolls looked at them in confusion. The only person who dared to interrupt was Adelle Dewitt. She stood in front of the couch with a hand on her hip, Mr. Dominic stood slightly behind her, arms crossed. She cleared her throat to get their attention. It didn't work.

"Topher, a word with you, if you please," She said.

They ignored her.

"Topher, I need to speak with you immediately," She repeated, shifting her weight.

Still nothing. Topher's hand was even starting to play with the bottom of Bennett's pale green sweater.

"Mr. Brink," Adelle called again.

They were still on another planet.

"Christopher Brink!" Adelle yelled, which finally got his attention. The two separated and both grew as red as they possibly could.

"Heh, you bellowed?" Topher answered. Adelle sighed in exasperation.

"Nevermind," She said. Dominic held back a snicker.

"Must be some girl," He commented as Adelle started heading towards the stairs.

"Honestly, Mr. Dominic, I'm surprised she's not Bennett Brink yet," Adelle said, fully aware that both Bennett and Topher could hear her.

"Hmm. It does have a nice ring to it," Dominic replied, following her.

"Doesn't it?" Adelle responded, though the two lovebirds perched on the couch could barely hear them at that point. They only starred at each other. Finally, Topher stood up, grabbing Bennett's hand and pulling her up as well.

"Maybe we should take this somewhere a little more…private?" He asked. Bennett nodded furiously. Topher lead her into the back computer rooms and into the one where he normally slept.

And that pretty much made it official. Best birthday ever.


End file.
